Verma
Feminine
Verma is a name from the turn of the last century that almost certainly began as a mishearing, and that is not a criticism. A good part of the American name record was made by ear, at a door, by a clerk writing down what he thought he heard.
How old is the name Verma?
Verma first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Verma alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 300 people named Verma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Verma most popular?
Verma peaked in 1906, reaching #1321 nationally. See the whole 1906 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Verma
M and n are the easiest pair of consonants in English to confuse. They are made in almost the same place in the mouth, they differ only in whether the lips are closed, and across a doorway, in a hurry, with an accent on one side and a pen on the other, they are effectively the same sound. The census and the early birth records are full of the evidence: names that appear in two forms in the same county in the same decade, one of them with an m where the other has an n. What makes this more than a clerical footnote is what happened next. The spelling that got written down became the name. A child grew up as Verma, signed it, taught it to her own children, and a slip of the ear turned into an inheritance — which is, if you follow it far enough back, how a good many perfectly respectable names began.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source. The likeliest account is that it is Verna written down by someone who heard an m — Verna, from a Latin word about spring, was common in exactly the years Verma appears and in exactly the same places. Verma is also a widespread Indian surname, and the two have no connection whatever: the American name predates any Indian immigration that could explain it.
Pronouncing Verma
VUR-muh
Two syllables, stress at the front. Nothing in the spelling is ambiguous.
Nicknames for Verma
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 192334 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1321reached in 1906
- Change vs 1970
- +20.0%6 in 1972, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Vermas among us
people named Verma are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Verma sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, clear and carried by almost nobody alive.
- It has the plain sound of a real period name rather than an invention.
- The spelling is unambiguous once seen.
- It will be heard as Verna, Velma or Vera, which are all close neighbors.
- It belongs entirely to one American era and has never come back.
- There is no meaning to hand a child, and the honest story is about a clerk's ear.
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Verma
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Vermas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Verma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Verma in 2025?
- Verma is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Verma with classmates?
- Verma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More V names
The most-given names starting with V, all years combined.
Virginia#525 · Victoria#54 · Valerie#127 · Vanessa#377 · Vivian#70 · Veronica#427 · Violet#13 · Vicki
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Verma? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Verma and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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